A Wizard's Harmony
by Fantasy0fanatic
Summary: Will lived in England for a year and is asked to go back; Nico is still keeping secrets, and Hecate has a issued a new quest. The golden trio is going back to school after defeating Voldemort; and a new foe is lurking in the shadows. All paths lead somewhere, but why does it have to be Hogwarts?
1. Why me?

Harry's P.O.V:

"Of course Teddy's going to go to muggle school," Hermione argues with Ron. Another pointless fight between the couple all because Ron made the mistake of suggesting that Hermione should home school the kid herself.

"He's a wizard and part werewolf, he would never fit in." Ron gestures to the couple of month old child that's to busy sleeping to care that my best friends are debating a decision that doesn't need to be made for a few years. "I was home schooled and I turned out great."

"I've yet to see any evidence of that," Hermione scoffs.

Ron's face glows red. "Well, well," he stutters.

"And at a muggle school he'll have a chance to make friends with kids that won't judge him for being part werewolf, unlike the scrutiny he'll face in the wizardry world." Hermione crosses her arms over her chest and leans back in her chair.

"You can't know that for sure. Kids can be mean, right Harry?"Ron fires back, finally getting his thoughts together. "

"Uh," I hesitate, trying to figure out how I went from being a bystander to a participant in this argument, or how this fight started in the first place.

"Regular schooling is important so that Teddy can know more about the muggle society. Besides, it isn't that bad, tell him Harry.

"Well," I start, remembering all the times Dudley or another kid from my class bullied me for next to no reason at all.

"I can't believe you're taking his side!" Hermione doesn't even let me say anything.

I try to calm her down so that I can explain. "You have to understand Hermione, my cousin made my life a living hell, that included my school experience."

"See, Harry agrees. Sending Teddy to muggle school would make him miserable," Ron proclaims, confident in his victory.

"Wasn't there anything you liked about school, a teacher, a subject, maybe a friend? You had to at least of had a friend," Hermione urges, unwilling to let Ron win so easily.

I shake my head at her questions. "The closest thing I had to a friend was this weirdly sunny American kid when I was ten, and he was friendly to everyone; I don't think that counts. Besides, I never saw him after starting at Hogwarts. For all I know, he went back to the States." Hermione huffs, clearly disappointed with her defeat.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, across the Atlantic_

Will's P.O.V:

"Will," A voice, probably belonging to one of my siblings, tries to get my attention as I bury my face deeper into my pillow. "Come on, I know you're awake."

With a sigh, I roll over so that I'm facing whoever interrupted my first full nights sleep in a week. "What." I hardly open my eyes wide enough to see Kayla standing over me.

"You need to get up," Sure, it's easy for her to say. She didn't work night shift in the infirmary the night before and the night before that.

"Why," I moan. "Is the camp on fire?

"Not at the moment,"

"Are we being attacked?"

"No,"

"Is someone dying?"

"Everyone's dying, but no one at camp is in immediate danger of visiting the Underworld if that's what you mean."

Instead of commenting on her slightly morbid response, I turn away from her, determined to fall back asleep. "Well, if it isn't an emergency, I'm not getting up." I don't hear any more from my sister, so I assumed she left me alone. It isn't until she grabs the blanket I'm currently tangled up in and yanks, that I realize she never left in the first place. I let out a squeak as my sheets fall into a heap on the floor, taking me with them. "Was that necessary?"

"Depends," She smiles slightly. "Is a pale, Italian, Son of Hades waiting outside considered an emergency?"

Suddenly I feel awake. I separate myself from my bedding, then change into the first outfit I can find before hurting to brush my teeth. The entire process should have taken about ten minutes, but I'm out the door in half the time.

"Morning Nico," I greet.

He glances up from messing with his skull ring as he leans against the cabin's porch railing. "Oh, hey," he responds still half asleep.

"Did you sleep well, any nightmares?" I ask, taking note of the shadows under his eyes. They're lighter than they were right after the war, but darker than they were yesterday. He turns his attention back to his ring and just sorta shrugs. That would be a yes.

"What about you? Austin mentioned you've been taking the night shift." Nico deflects my question right back at me.

I make a mental note to have a discussion with Austin later, but for now I try not to focus on Nico's reluctance to open up and answer. "I'm great. I have the whole day off, so there's plenty of time to catch up on my sleep."

He nods, agreeing. "So, breakfast?" he suggests after a beat of silence.

"Sure, just let me tell Kayla so that she knows where I am if there's an emergency."

"This is why I'm glad my dad didn't create a horde of sibling," Neeks mumbles as I'm about to open the cabin door.

"What was that?" I pretend that I didn't hear him.

"Nothing,"

"That's what I thought."

I swing the door open, content that Nico won't run off. Taking a step through the door way, I realize that I'm no longer in the Apollo cabin.

"I was wondering when you would come," a woman with a silver dress and billowing black robes says.

"And where exactly am I?" I ask. Where a row of bunks should be there is a row of doors. Some are so small they might have come from Wonderland. The other side of the room is fashioned in the same way, but straight ahead of me are three stone arches. To top it all off, a thick fog covers the wood floor.

"My domain of course. It took forever to convince Apollo to let me borrow his door, or else I would have come sooner," the woman rambles.

"Right, of course, but who are you?"

She stares at me slightly longer than necessary before sighing. "Hecate, I thought Lou Ellen would have at least told you about me."

"My Lady." I quickly bend into a small bow.

"It's to late, we might as well get onto business."

"I'm sorry, what business?"

"My, don't you like asking questions?" She smirks. "I have a quest for you." She pauses to let her smirk stretch into a smile. "We have a lot to discuss."

* * *

 **A/N: Hi, first off, thanks for reading this. Please comment if you see any grammar mistakes; I appreciate constructive criticism.**

 **Next, if you didn't notice, this is going to be Will Solace and Nico di Angelo going to Hogwarts. It's going to be set during an 8th year because I honestly don't remember the Harry Potter books well enough to keep the plot canon. Also, I want Nico to have experience with the wizarding world, but I can't decide how. Below I have different ways that can happen. I'm fine with incorporating multiple choices in the story, but I want your opinion. Please let me know which one or ones you want me to use in the story. Thank you!**

 **1\. Met wizard ghosts in the Underworld and learned from them.**

 **2\. Faulty shadow travel stranded Nico in the wizarding world before and learned about it that way.**

 **3\. Nico's mom was a witch, either from a famous pure blood family or not.**

 **4\. Used to know Tom Riddle (I'll have to see how the timeline matches up)**

 **5\. Knew the marauders (again, I need to see how Nico's timeline would make this work)**

 **And I think that's it. Thank you.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or settings so please don't sue me.**


	2. I don't want to be a dog

**A/N: Hello, thanks for reading and/or reviewing. Just as a warning, future updates won't be so quick. Also, the first couple chapters are probably going to be on the shorter side while I get the introductions out of the way.**

 **Disclaimer: I'm not Rick Riordan or J.K. Rowling**

* * *

When I was twelve, I learned that Greek gods were real and that I am a child of Apollo. Three years later, the Romans entered the pictured. You could say that I'm used to the unexpected by now, so instead of being surprised that Hecate just revealed the existence of wizards and magic, there's only one thing I can think about. "You want me to go to school?" is the first thing out of my mouth as soon as she finishes her explanation.

"Hogwarts, one of, if not the best, wizarding schools in Europe." she clarifies.

"But why?" I blurt out. The war just ended, what could be so important that the gods already need the help of a demi-god?

"Do I need a reason?" Instead of answering, I just stare at her. "Fine, I need you to protect someone for me," she admits. "The savior of the wizarding world defeated the one of the greatest enemies their society has ever faced last year,"

"That's a good thing, so why do you need me?" I interrupt.

"However,"Hecate continues like I never spoke in the first place. "unknown to them, the war isn't over. Many paths are converging at Hogwarts, most covered in blood and death." she gestures to the doors and arches surrounding us.

"So basically, you want me to join another war?" I sum up.

"What I want is for you to protect the world I spent the last millennia creating. If that means fighting, then that's exactly what I'm asking of you." Putting it that way doesn't make it sound any better. As if sensing my hesitation, she continues. "Of course I wouldn't ask you to do this alone. Though you can choose anyone to travel with you, I suggest taking Nico di Angelo on this quest. He should be able to help you blend in," The mention of Nico catches my attention.

"Wait, Nico knows about the wizarding world?" It shouldn't have been a surprise after the Ambassador of Pluto debacle, but still, I thought he was done with keeping secrets.

Hecate nods. "Tell him I give him permission to speak freely and he can should be able to explain everything you need to know. So, do you accept?" she doesn't miss a beat.

I don't know what to say. On one hand, I really don't want to leave all my patients and friends to help people I don't even know. On the other hand, I'd rather not be turned into a golden retriever for refusing. "Okay, I accept." I decide, hoping I made the right choice.

"Perfect, I'll have everything you'll need ready for you by tomorrow." She claps her hands together and begins to glow. I quickly shut my eyes before her true form can turn me to ash.

After a few seconds, the bight light assaulting my retinas dies down. Deciding that it's safe, I open my eyes and find that the room of door is gone and the Apollo cabin is back to normal. "Hey Will, you okay?" One of my younger brother asks." You've been staring into space for a while now."

"Yeah, I'm good, um, could you tell Kayla that I'm at the dining pavilion if she needs anything?" He agrees before running off.

Content that I've done what I came to do and then some, I leave the Apollo cabin. It takes a moment for me to find where Nico is waiting for me. Then I notice a patch of shadows protecting the small Ghost King. His eyes are closed and his lips parted slightly as he leans against a pillar. I would think he's asleep if I didn't know that his nightmares would make it impossible for him to look so peaceful."Come on Sunshine, time to get up." I nudge Nico with my foot despite my instinct to let him rest.

He opens his eyes lazily and looks up at me. "What took you so long Solace?" He's rather coherent which is surprising with how worn out he looks.

"We got a quest." He raises a brow in interest. "I'll explain, but first," I grab his hands making him tense up and pull him to his feet. "breakfast."

Much to Nico's discomfort, I keep a hold of his hand to drag him to the dinning pavilion and through the line. Instead of sitting at the Apollo table like usual, Nico directs me towards the Hades table as soon as he has a black coffee in his hand. I sit across from him and try to keep quite about his lack of real food. Hades knows that if I comment on it he'll skip the next two meals just to spite me. "So, what can you tell me about wizards?" Nico pauses in adding an unhealthy amount of sugar to his drink.

"Nothing, why?" His voice is steely calm, trying to end the discussion before it even starts.

"The quest I mentioned. Hecate wants us to go to a wizarding school to protect them from something and said to ask you any questions I might have." I reassure him. He relaxes slightly.

"Did she say which school?" Nico takes a sip of his coffee before making a face and adding more sugar.

"Hogwarts I think." I cut off a piece of my waffles and shove it in my mouth to stop myself from forcefully taking the sweetener away from the Son of Hades.

"Hogwash," He comments.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's Hogwarts." Not that the name's much better.

He just shrugs. "Same thing." He steals a strawberry off my plate before continuing. "The school used to be great, one of the best in the world, but their last headmaster was a bit eccentric."

"So?" I don't see how that could be a bad thing.

" _So_ , he canceled exams, favored students, hired questionable teachers, and put a lot of his kids in danger. He may have been a great wizard, but not the best person to be in charge of a school." He explained.

"Wait, I'm confused. Start at the beginning."

And so he did. The rest of the day, Nico tagged along with me to my camp activities. During my archery time he explained about Hogwarts and the other schools. At lunch he gave me a brief history lesson on the wizarding world. While he trained with his sword he tried to mention the politics and blood status, but stopped when he realized that I either got really bored or really angry. Why do they care what blood anyone has? Finally, at dinner and during the campfire he revealed everything he knew about the war with Voldemort. Funny enough, I'm sure I've heard the name Harry Potter somewhere before. Oh Well. By the end of it all, Nico looked like a weight has been lifted off him. Just how long has he been keeping this a secret?

By the time I get back to my cabin I have a headache from all the information I tried to consume today. I'm so exhausted by everything that happened today. I'm out moments after my head hits the pillow.


	3. It's a twig

**_A/N: Hey, would you look at that? I actually updated with story. Sorry for taking so long, I really don't have an excuse, I ignored this story to work on my other one and it wasn't fair to everyone that's reading this one. Thank you for the patience, and for reading. Also, it made me really happy that people voted on the plot ideas from the first chapter. It helped me figure out what direction this story should take, please keep reviewing. I enjoy getting constructive criticism, so don't be afraid to point out something I messed up or the parts to like. Again, thank you, it means a lot to me._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I'm nor Rick Riordan or J.K. Rowling._**

* * *

My father is shining, no annoying sibling violently dragged me out to bed, and I don't have to work in the infirmary until this afternoon. It's a great morning. The only thing that could make it better is if a certain Son of Hades would show up to breakfast more than once a week, but hey, I'll work with what I got. Of course, with everything being so perfect, it's only a matter of time before a monster or injured camper comes along to ruin it. Until that happens I can enjoy this moment of peace.

"What's that?" A girl from the Hermes table wonders rather loudly. She stands up and points at spot on the horizon.

Well, the calm before the storm sure didn't last long.

The speck grows until it's clears that it's some sort of bird. Normally that wouldn't be weird for a summer camp, but birds aren't all that common here outside of the woods with the protective shield in place and a hungry dragon working as a guard dog. If that isn't odd enough, it seem to be heading straight toward the pavilion. By now, everyone has stopped eating their breakfast to watch as the bird, which can be made out as an owl, seems to be carrying a package in it's talons. It barely reaches the dining pavilion before it almost clips people in the head with a box that's a little to large for a bird of that size. Finally, it all but crash lands in front of me. Cue the whispers as campers turn to their neighbor to discuss what's going on and what all of this means. Despite all the commotion, the small fowl doesn't seemed fazed at all. It rights itself, himself (I'm pretty sure it's a boy), lets out a soft "who", and stares at me with piercing yellow eyes. I can only get it to stop once I shoo it off of the parcel. It must have been the right thing to do, because he steals a piece of bacon off of my plate (much to my annoyance) and flies off.

"That was weird," someone states the obvious. This sets off a chorus people voicing their agreement. Trying to block all this out, I turn my attention to the parcel sitting on the table in front of me.

I grab the package to find that it's wrapped in a thick brown paper. Two creamy coloured letters are attached to the top with a strip of twine. The address is in English, making it hard to read with my dyslexia, but I'm almost positive that's my name. The rest is a smaller print and impossible to decipher by myself. I have to have one of my sisters to help me. Apparently, the upper right corner with the fancy "M" stamp has the words _Wizarding Owl Post International_ underneath it while the left side contains a return address for a Hecate Titan. Everything starts making sense, these must be the supplies Hecate mentioned. Though I don't know how all the stuff I need to blend in at a magic school could fit in a box this size. I yank at the string bow until the letters are dislodged. The bottom one has the same packaging as the first, but it's has Nico's name written on it in a dark green ink. Well, I was looking for an excuse to drag Nico to breakfast, now I have an excuse to take breakfast to him. Most people have left after the excitement died, so no one questions when I start piling pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, fruit, and other random breakfast foods on a plate. I tuck the box and the letters under my arm before heading towards the Hades cabin.

Three things to know about cabin 13, the outside is freezing. It a type of cold that's only possible because the Underworld material it's made out of leeches any warmth out of the air. Even though most campers find this creepy, it's the perfect place to hang out during the dog days of summer if you want a break from the heat.. Despite the temperature outside the building, the inside is like a furnace. It's what I imagine the portals to hell would feel like. The entire thing is an anomaly the Nico either doesn't know the answer to or refuses to explain when I've asked about it. Lastly, the door is almost never locked which makes it easy to get in when he doesn't respond to your knocking. Like for instance, now.

As soon as I walk into the cabin, it's obvious that he hasn't even heard me invite myself in. I can hear the music from his head phones from the door way. "Nico," I try to get his attention at a normal volume before switching to yelling, "Nico!" It seems to work. He at least looks up from the sword he's sharpening.

"What are you doing here Will?" he yells over the sound of Twenty One Pilots playing in his ears. I go to speak, but close my mouth. There is no way I'm going to scream so he can hear me. I motion for him to remove his headphones.

"You weren't at breakfast," I start once I can talk like a normal person and still have him hear me.

"I was sleeping." Based on his appearance, I don't doubt it. The dark bags under his eyes are gone, slightly, replaced by a rim of pale redness. He doesn't say anything else.

"Oh, I brought you something to eat." I force the plate of food into his hands. He takes it with little resistance. "Are you okay?" I can't help but blurt out.

"Allergies," Nico snaps. There's nothing about allergies in his medical and we both know it. He places the plate on the bedside table, but doesn't eat anything off of it. "What's that?" Nico points to the box, changing the subject before I have the chance to push it any further.

"Package from Hecate, an owl delivered it." I don't get any type of reaction from him, "And you don't seem the least bit surprised."

He shrugs, "Most wizards use owls to send mail." Athena would be horrified if she ever found out.

"Of course they do." I flop down on the bed next to Nico. This is starting to get to be to much.

"Have you opened it yet?" he gestures to the package.

"I shake my head no. "what if it's set to explode." I wouldn't put it past the gods to do that.

He rolls his eyes and reaches across me to grab something off the table. "Open it," he commands while offering me the silver knife he grabbed.

I take a moment to consider it, looking at the box, then at the knife, then back at the box before finally relenting. "Fine." I accept the blade. Though I don't completely trust it, so I slice through the packaging with my face turned away. Nothing explodes out at me. That's good, right? Hoping this means that it's safe, I risk a peek. I don't know what I'm expecting, maybe at least an April's Fools note or something along those line. Instead, the box is empty. I think. It's hard to tell when it looks like there isn't a bottom to it. I reach my hand in to make sure that I'm not seeing things and end up going up to my elbow. "Whoa." I pull my arm back out. "it's like Mary Poppins' bag," I start getting excited.

"Mary who?" Nico leans over to look.

I can't tell if he's being serious. How can he not know who Mary Poppins is? "You know, Chim Chimney or Supicali," I try to jog his memory, but trail off as I notice he looks even more confused. "Basically it's bigger on the inside," I simplify.

It's like a light bulb goes off over his head. "Why didn't you say that? It must be some type of extension charm." Now it's my turn to have no idea what he's talking about. "Think TARDIS," he explains.

"I guess." I blink. I can't believe it. How can he know about Doctor Who but not Mary Poppins?

Disappointed in Nico's musical ignorance, I move on and reach back into the box. This time my finger brushes against an unknown object so, like an idiot, I grab it without a second thought. I wonder what it is. Maybe a broom stick, or a pointing hat, or even...another box. It's a burnt red colour with golden cursive writing that I'm not even going to try reading. My hopes that whatever is inside of it will be more interesting are dashed once I open it. "It's a stick," I have to say it out loud to really process it. "What am I supposed to do with this?" I wave it around to prove my point. Instead, a golden light shoots out of the tip and explodes like a firework. Gumball sized spheres of light rain down, fizzling out before they can hit the ground. It's mesmerizing. I watch as Nico catches one in the palm of his hand. Surprisingly, it condenses into a ball of sunlight. "it's a twig," I laugh.

"It's a wand," he corrects me like the terminology is going to change the fact it's made out of wood.I point this out.

"I could sit on it and snap it in half."

"or you could say two words and kill someone." Well that's a sobering thought. I quickly place the wand back in it's box. With my luck, I'll say abra cadabra and stop a person's heart.

"What else do you think is in here?" I wonder. Nico shrugs and picks up the letter with his name on it acting like he doesn't care, but I can see him watching me out of the corner of his eye, smiling. Deciding to take a page out of the "Nico's Guide to Recklessness," I turn the box upside down and dump everything out. Many books that almost land on my toes, a pile of what might be cloaks, suspicious specimen looking things, and a few other supplies tumble out. I start going through it while Nico reads his letters when I realize there's one thing missing, "There's isn't a wand for you," I point out.

He looks up from his reading. "I would be surprised if there was." His calm acceptance of all this is starting to get on my nerves. Especially since it feels like I'm missing something obvious.

"But how are you supposed to do magic without a twig?" Wait, that's not right, "I mean a wand," I amend.

"I have a wand," he slides off of the bed to dig around under the bed. It doesn't take long for him to find what he's looking for. When he does, he holds up a wand for me to see. His is made of a darker wood than mine and has a sharper point. There's leather wrapped around the handle that blends into the runes and other designs carved into it. "See?" he whispers a couple words that sound like gibberish to me, but must have been a spell.

A shimmery grey wisp of smoke floats out of the wand and morphs into a horse-like figure with wings and more bones than skin. It prances around in the air, seemingly unaffected by the laws a gravity. At one point it comes close enough that I can pet it. "How do you know so much magic?" The light from the zombie horse quickly dims until the smoky figure disperses completely.

I turn to Nico to see what happened. He's standing there awkwardly, biting his lip and twisting his skull ring. "My, uh, mom was a witch," he admits, though he won't look me in the eyes, "and I," he kicks at the ground, "I'm a wizard."

I open and close my mouth, but nothing comes out. The whole thing makes sense, how he knows about the wizarding world, the spells, maybe even why he seems so powerful. What I don't understand is why he's so hesitant to tell me. "So?" I force out.

Nico's finally stops avoiding my gaze and laughs sarcastically. " _So_ , I'm a Son of Hades, people already think I'm a freak." I try to interrupt him, but he's on a roll. "Plus, if the wizards ever find out, I'd be labeled a half-breed and be either feared or hated. Probably both. Then I would be ostracized from two world." Done with his rant, he falls back onto Hazel's dark purple bed. "I don't want that to happen," he adds quietly.

We sit in silence for a moment before I can't take it any longer. I jump off of Nico's bed so that I'm standing over him."You are an idiot di Angelo," I stress every word. "I'm not going to care who, or what, you're parents are," He lifts his head to look at me. "and anyone who does care is a jerk. Thinking otherwise is stupid." I reprimand. "Stop being stupid. Doctors orders." I smile.

"Whatever," is what he says, but I know it means that he'll at least try which is a start and that's all that matters.

"Great, one more thing." he looks skeptical, though he nods, letting me know he's still listening. "When do I get to learn how to do that astral projection thingy?"

He laughs.


	4. Is this normal?

_**A/N: Another chapter, and this one was actually done rather quickly. I have the beginning of the next chapter done, but I can't promise the same speedy updates since I also need to work on some of my other stories. Sorry.**_

 _ **Moving on, thank you for reading and/or reviewing. It makes me happy.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I'm not Rick Riordan or J.K. Rowling.**_

* * *

I reread the letter from Hecate for the hundredth time. It's been months since I received the quest and Nico started teaching me to blend in with the wizards, but I still have trouble believing it's all really happening. I let my eyes skim across the page, picking up the basics information like how to get to platform 9 3/4, how to get sorted into Hogwart houses, and how my wand is blessed so that I can do magic without being a wizard. I've memorized this all by heart, yet I still can't shake the feeling I'm forgetting something. The butterflies flying around in my belly aren't helping either. I switch my attention to the other paper in my hand, this one is in my own handwriting, a to-do list. Going through it, I try to convince myself that I'm not missing anything.

1\. Learn magic and wizard culture: check.

2\. Shadow Travel to London and board the Hogwarts Express: check. We even came early so that there would be an empty compartment for Nico to rest in after the jump which he's doing right now.

at Hogwarts and get sorted.

4\. Figure out what is going on at Hogwarts that made Hecate issue a quest.

I'm still working on those last two. By all accounts, nothing unusual should be happening in the wizarding world. According to Nico, their greatest foe was killed about a year ago and most of his followers either died with him or were detained. If Hecate wasn't a goddess, I would almost think she's wrong about this job.

A small gasp coming from Nico's sleeping form pulls me out of my thoughts. His face is scrunched up in agony as he curls in on himself. I wish there was something I could do, but he need to rest after traveling across the ocean with a passenger. I reach towards him when there's a knock on the compartment door.

"It's unlocked," I clear my throat and quickly pull away.

The door opens to reveal a girl with long blonde and bright blue eyes that look like they're taking everything around her at once. "Have you seen a toad," she asks in a dreamy voice that make me wonder if she's related to Hypnos somehow.

"Uh, like a specific toad, or just seen one in general?" This certainly wasn't what I thought my first conversation with a witch would be. Is this normal?

"My friend," she stops for a moment and smiles," lost his toad. His name is Travis," she states matter of factly.

I'm even more confused. "Your friend or the," I trail off as she starts laughing.

"Travis is the toad, my friend is Neville. Have the Wrackspurts gotten to you?" I have no idea what she's talking about.

"No...?" I hope that's the right answer. "I'm Will," I quickly change the subject, praying that she doesn't get suspicious. I hold out my hand.

She grabs my hand between two of her fingers and and shakes it. "I'm Luna, but most people call me Looney Lovegood," she introduces. I can see why. However, that doesn't mean it's nice to call her mean names. I point this out, but she doesn't seem bothered by it.

"Luna!" a boy that kinda reminds me of Frank comes running towards us. "I found him." he proudly holds a toad up for her to see.

"You must be Neville," I make the connection between this boy and the one Luna was talking about. He turns to look at me for the first time before turning back to Luna in search of answers. "I'm Will, Luna mentioned you," I explain. There's no reason to make him think I'm some kind of creeper if I can avoid it.

He relaxes slightly. "I don't think I've seen you around before. Are you new?"He questions, and I suddenly remember what I was forgetting about, a cover story.

I've never been good at coming up with lies on the spot. It's a side effect of having the god of Truth for a father. What to do, what to do? I can't tell them I'm a demigod on a mission for the goddess of magic and crossroads.

"We're the new transfer students," Nico speaks up from behind me. Luna's eyes widen in interest while Neville startles slightly, it's clear he didn't notice there was someone else in the compartment.

"Neeks, you're awake," and just in time too.

He stands and stumbles over to the door, leaning on me for support. He's still weak from shadow traveling. I can feel the darkness in him from where his shoulder is touching mine. If I wasn't so worried about blowing our covers, I would try using my Apollo healing powers on him. Instead, he'll have to wait until Neville and Luna leave and I can get him some medicine from my bag.

"Transfers?" Neville isn't buying the story right away. Luna continues to examine Nico, so I can't figure out if she's still listening to the conversation, let alone believe us.

"To strengthen relations between MUSEA and the Ministry after the war." I don't understand everything Nico's going on about, but it looks like it's convincing Neville.

A student walks between Neville and I, making it obvious that our conversation is taking up most of the hallway. "Uh, would you like to sit down?" I offer so that we won't be in the way.

"We should actually be getting back to our own compartment now that I've found Trevor. Our friends will be wondering where we are," He explains and grabs Luna's hand to lead her back down the train. I nod goodbye before retreating back into the safety of our own compartment.

With a sigh, I collapse onto the bench. Lying is exhausting. "Well that could have gone better," Nico speaks up, plopping down beside me and using me as a pillow.

"I think it went rather well."

Nico rolls his eyes at me. "They're suspicious, that's never a good thing."

"You don't know that, maybe they believed us." I nudge Nico off of me so that I can get up. Grabbing my bag from the over head rack, I take out a canteen of unicorn draught and a square of ambrosia. When I turn to give them to Nico, I'm greeted with his 'are you and idiot' stare.

"They recently finished a war. Transfer students or not, I'd almost be more worried if they weren't," he reasons. He takes the godly medicine from me and gulps it down. A little bit of his natural olive colouring returns. It's not perfect, but at least he doesn't look so much like a ghost. "We should probably get dressed. We should be there soon," he suggests. I want to ask how he knows when he's been asleep for most of the trip, but an announcement over the intercom confirms it before I can.

I practically jump into my uniform robes. This ride has taken forever, I can't wait to get off and do something. Nico's slower in changing, still groggy from only recently waking up. Ten agonizing minutes later the train finally screeches to a stop. The hallway fills with students all at once and I have to grab onto Nico's sleeve so that I don't lose him. Outside of the train isn't much better. Off to one side of the clearing we stopped in is a row of black carriages being swarmed by students. On the other side is a giant of a man calling for first years.

"Should we go with them?" I ask, gesturing toward the growing group of eleven year olds. Nico considers it until the man yells something about boats and shakes his head. "Right, Son of Hades and water don't mix," I remember. To the carriages then.

Once again, I grab onto Nico and drag him through the crowd. I try to avoid pushing people out of the way, but really it was unavoidable. At least I shout a quick "excuse me," or "I'm sorry," every time I do. We finally reach a break in the horde of students that let us reach the carriages. Ones that are clearly not being pulled by regular horses.

"It's your Patronus." Yes I know what that astral projection thing is called, it was one of the first things Nico taught me.

He hums in agreement. "A thestral," he clarifies.

We aren't the only ones who notice the bony ponies. In fact, they're the main cause of the congested area. Everyone's staring, or pointing at them while talking with their friends about it. A few even look on the verge of crying for some reason. Before I can get distracted by all of that, I climb into the nearest carriage with Nico entering behind me.

It just so happens that the carriage is already occupied. There's six other people, making it a bit of a hard to squeeze in, but I'm not willing to risk going back out into the mob of people, so it will have to work. The first boy has bright red hair and the freckles to match. Beside him is a girl with bushy, chocolate brown hair that must have had her nose in a book before we came in and a boy with round, wire glasses and unruly black hair who looks really familiar though I don't know why. The last unknown person is a girl version of the first boy who's sitting next to Luna and Neville.

"So we meet again," I greet, taking a seat next to Luna. Her and Neville smile and wave in response.

"Hello, sorry, have we met?" The bushy haired girl speaks up.

Nico answers before I have the chance. "No," he says simply, though you would think he was a lot ruder by the way the girl wrinkles her nose at his response.

"We met Luna and Neville on the train," I quickly explain to try and make up for it. "Mr. Dark and Brooding here is Nico, and I'm Will." Nico huffs at my description of him and crosses his arms only proving my point.

"I'm Hermione Granger." she looks to the other people in the carriage, probably waiting for them to introduce themselves, but glasses is too busy staring at me weirdly and the possible siblings, well, I don't think the boy is really paying attention and the girl only shrugs. "The red heads are Ron and Ginny Weasley, and you already know Luna and Neville," she sighs.

"You forgot to tell us his name." Nico motions to Glasses. I'm sure I've met him before.

"He's Harry Potter," Luna supplies.

That's it! "Dudley's cousin," I realize. All of the wizards and witches freeze. "We used to go to school together."

Recognition flashes across Harry's face at the same time Ron speaks, "but you're American." Hermione slaps him on the arm.

"My mom's a singer," I start, "She toured Europe when I was younger and took me with her, but she still wanted me to go to a regular school which ended up being the same one Harry went to." The carriage starts slowing down as I finish.

"I remember you, the sunny American," Harry cut in.

"You don't know how true you are," Nico snorts. "Inside joke," he adds when all he receives are confused looks.

The carriage comes to a complete stop. We all pile out and I get my first look at the school. The place is huge and medeival looking with its stone arches and fancy pillars everywhere.

"Is there a William Solace and a Nico di Angelo here?" a voice yells over all the commotion of students arriving.

"Blimey, you never said you were a di Angelo," Ron cries.

Nico ignores him and latches onto my arm, leaving me no choice but to be dragged towards the voice and away from our new friends with hardly the chance to shout a goodbye. He doesn't slow him pace until we're standing right in front of a man shorter and more elf like than Leo.

"What was that about?" I question, yanking my arm out of his strong grip.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he feigns ignorance.

"Are you William Solace and Nico di Angelo?" The small wizard interrupts. Nico gives a quick nod in confirmation. "Fantastic, I'm Professor Flitwick; I'm here to escort you to the Great Hall." he walks away, confident that we'll follow. He takes us through a set of large doors to lead us to, surprise, another set of big wooden doors. "Wait here until you hear your names being announced."Before I can ask how we're supposed to hear our names through three inches of solid wood, he's already gone.

"What was Ron talking about?" I try again now that Nico and I are alone.

"Nothing," he denies.

"Nico," I whine.

"Will," he mocks. Letting out a puff of air, he sheds some of his icy exterior. "Nothing important." Surprisingly, a feminine voice saying out names drifts through the door. "I'll tell you later," He promises.

"I'll hold you to that," I tell him as we work together to push the doors open.


	5. Train and airplane noises included

_A/N: Happy late Easter! I hope everyone had a great day full of whatever traditions you do for the holiday. Thank you for taking the time today to read and/or review._

 _Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot._

* * *

All thoughts about Nice's last name leave my head as I focus on not letting my jaw hang open, a tough job considering the room we walk into. The Great Hall is, well, a great hall. There are five tables filled with either students or teachers and four of them appear to be colour coded. There's red, yellow, blue, and green, in that order. The air is filled with floating candles that have to be some kind of safely hazard, and to top it all off there's the ceiling. Zeus above, the ceiling is amazing. Forget about the Sistine chapel, this is where it's at. The night sky hangs above us in perfect clarity letting everyone watch as the clouds drift by or a shooting star appears. Sure it's no Olympus, but it's still really impressive for mortals, magic or not.

A witch with her hair in a tight bun and completely decked out in emerald green stands at the head of the fifth table. The hall comes to a hush when she makes a motion with her hand, having an old, brown, wizard hat be brought out and placed on a three legged stool by Mr. Flitwick. A line of smaller students, standing along the far wall, stare at the ratty head gear with anticipation.

The whole room is silent until a seam in the hat opens wide and it starts to scream. Or maybe it's singing, but I wouldn't start calling it Euterpe anytime soon. Once it's finished, everyone claps politely and then they go quite again.

"When I call your name, please come forward and be sorted. We shall start with the transfers." Maybe Nico's cover story actually had some truth to it. "Nico di Angelo," Mr. Flitwick calls.

Scattered whispers break out, mainly coming from the green table, as Nico walks to the front with a bored look. He sits on the stool and the hat is placed in his head, covering his eyes. He doesn't move except for the clenching of his jaw. Three minutes tick by before the hat screams "Slytherin!" and the hat is plucked off his head as the same green table starts clapping and cheering. Even from where I stand, I can tell that he's uncomfortable will all the attention. The applause dies down once he's taken a seat away from most of his house mates.

The same teacher announces my name. I take a seat and the hat is placed on my head.

" _Now where to put you?_ "a voice hums in my head.

" _Who are you?_ " I think back, trying to refrain from ripping the hat from my head, which I suspect has something to do with this blatant disrespect for my privacy.

" _I'm the sorting hat, now shush, I'm trying to think._ " it does give me time to say, think? anything else before it continues. " _Slytherin is out of the question, better be_...Hufflepuff," It yells the last part out loud, setting off an explosion of noise from the yellow table. It's a little overwhelming.

It doesn't help that people start introducing themselves as soon as I sit down. I can't pay attention to the rest of the sorting because at the same time the first boy is sorted into Ravenclaw, a Hufflepuff girl is telling me that her name is Hannah Albott, she's an 8th year (which I don't understand because Hecate only mentioned seven grades) and that I can come to her if I have any problems. When she's done, a guy named Ernie something grabs my hand and starts shaking it vigorously. It's all a blur after that. Kids get sorted, names are thrown at me then promptly forgotten, and I end up with even more questions than I had when I sat down. By the time the last person it put in Gryffindor, my head is buzzing trying to keep up with everything,

I get a break when the green robed teacher stands up again, bringing peace to the hall and my growing head ache. I'm usually fine with people, but even all of this is a little much. I must let my confusion show because the guy next to me bumps my shoulder to get my attention. "That's Professor Mcgonagall, she's head mistress this year," he explains.

"This year?" Nico didn't say it was a revolving job, but that does explain why the head master isn't the eccentric one that he mentioned.

"Yeah," he whispers so that we don't interrupt the speech the head mistress is giving, "the two head masters before her died almost within a year of each other, though I don't know if you can really count the previous one, or any of last year since the school was over run by You Know Who's followers." he gets this far away look, remembering, for a moment before he snaps back to the present. "They even had to add an extra 8th year so that everyone could make it up without a war going on." Well that's one mystery solved.

I want to ask more about everything, but when I try another Hufflepuff shushes us and I realized I missed most of Mcgonagall's speech. Oops. "Here's to a quiet year at Hogwarts," she toasts.

Suddenly, food magically appears on the table. There's so much food. Salted pork, roasted potatoes, and mincemeat pies, they look delicious, but I can't help notice that Nico's ignoring it all. All this food and I watch as he touches none of it. I would slap some sense into him if I could, but his table's far away.

"Is it against the rules to sit at a different house's table?" I ask the same boy that helped me earlier.

"Uh," he thinks for a second, "I don't know. I don't think there's an exact rule against it, but there doesn't need to be, it's practically taboo," he explains, though it seems a little extreme.

Either way, all I needed to hear is that it might not be against the rules and I did. I grab my plate and march over to the Slytherin table. Taking a seat beside Nico, I try to ignore all the stares from the rest of the students and absolutely refuse to look at the staff table. "You aren't eating," I state, making Nico roll his eyes.

"And you're at the wrong table." Nico points to my tie that became yellow and black when I was sorted.

"The teachers don't care." I hope. I still haven't looked to see if the Head Mistress is mad. If she wants me to move then she'll have to come over and tell me. I just hope I don't get detention on my first day because of this. I start piling food on Nico's plate to distract me from that thought. "Now eat."

"Can't," he pushes his plate away.

"Why not?" I stab a potato and take a bite. It turns to ash on my tongue. I can't spit it into a napkin fast enough.

"Because we haven't sacrificed any food yet." He smirks while I gag on the taste of soot in my mouth.

He pulls out his wand and casts a spell that burns part of the vegetables on his plate. I quickly glance down the table to see if anyone noticed. No one did, I think. The only one close enough to see what we're doing is a boy with pale blonde hair that's gelled back half heartily and he's to busy playing with his food to notice when I catch a piece of meat on fire.

"There, you can eat now." I push Nico's plate back in front of him. He scowls at it, but takes a bite nevertheless. There, that's fixed. "You should eat too," I call down to the blond boy that is still pushing his food around his plate.

He lifts his head and tries to glare at me, but honestly, all death glares are pretty pathetic once you've seen Annabeth's, or Hades forbid, Nico's. "I don't see how that's any of your business," he bites out.

"I'm a healer, that means everybody's health is my business," I inform him.

Beside me, Nico sighs and shakes his head like he knows where this is going, but that can't be right; I'm not that predictable, right? Right? "Just do what he wants. It's easier than trying to argue with him." he supplies while staring at a piece of pork in distain before shoving it into his mouth.

The boy scoffs and turns away.

Looks like I'll have to take a more direct approach. Sliding down the bench so that I'm right across from him, I grab a large portion of the nearest dish and heap it on his plate. "We can do this two ways,"

"Let me guess, the easy way and the hard way?" he interrupts, rolling his eyes.

"Pretty much," I agree. "Either you eat something on your own or I'll spoon feed it to you like some kind of baby." Pause for dramatic affect. "Train and airplane noises included," I threaten.

He squints at me, sizing me up. "You wouldn't."

"He would." Nico's face flushes. He's probably remembering the last time I gave him the same choice and he picked wrong.

Blondie must realize that I mean business because he eats with little complaint. By that I mean I hear him grumble about a stupid American healer before he takes his first bite.

"It's Will actually," I tell him.

"Excuse me?"

"My name, It's Will, Will Solace, not stupid American healer or what ever else you were calling me under your breath." If I expected him to turn away in embarrassment for being called out, I would have been disappointed. "And you are?" I ask, trying to break the awkward silence.

Mal," he cuts himself off, "Draco," he corrects before going silent.

And now it's awkward again.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Draco. Right Nico?" I elbow Nico to get his attention away from the deserts that appeared. Really, his sweet tooth is going to get him in trouble.

"Sure," he agrees in a type of bored interest only he has perfected.

At least it seem to gain Draco's interest. "You're the di Angelo right?" There's that weird reaction to Nico's name again.

"Maybe," Nico grumbles.

"He is," I correct him while slapping his shoulder for being rude.

"Of the Italian di Angelos? Draco clarifies.

"No, I just learned how to fake the accent." Nico rolls his eyes.

"My father said that the di Angelos died out during one of those big muggle wars." Muggle wars? I know Nico's mom died during WWII, is that what he means?

Nico just shrugs. "Yeah, well, here I am."

"Sorry," I interject before Nico's lack of an answer can start an argument. "what's so important about the last name di Angelo?" Maybe this way I won't have to find time to pry the information out of Nico.

When Draco turns his gaze back on me, he looks at me like I've gone mad. "You're kidding right? How could you not know about the di Angelos when you're apparently friends with one of them?" I raise my hands in surrender, but he's on such a roll I don't think he even notices. "The di Angelos were one of the most powerful pure blood families anywhere. They were major anti-mudblood activists, at least they were before their only child, a girl, ran away and reproduced with a filthy muggle," he says the last part with a sneer which doesn't seem very nice. I mean, technically, based on how Nico described muggles, I'm closer to being one of them than being a wizard.

"What happened to the girl?" I have an idea, but I want to be sure.

This time Nico answers. "She died." his knuckles are white from gripping his fork. "Murdered, just like her parents."

Yes, well those were the rumors, though no one ever knew what happened to the children, their bodies were never found." Draco pauses to see if Nico's going to correct him. "Although I suppose at least one of the kids lived to have half-blood children." Well, he's not entirely wrong.

"Pure blood actually," Nico glares at Draco, daring the other Slytherin to contradict him. "You were wrong when you said she ran away with a muggle." Nico always gets this way when someone brings up his family, guarded and hostile. I can't see this ending well.

Thankfully, before the conversation can go any further, the green lady, Professor Mcgonagall, stands and dismisses everyone to bed. Maybe the Fates don't hate demi-gods after all.

"Mr. Solace," Mcgonagall strides towards me. "a word please." I stand corrected, the Fates do hate us.

I turn to Nico for support. "I'll make sure it's a nice funeral," is all he offers then he follow the rest of his house out of the hall.

Taking a deep breath to steel my nerves, I turn toward the Head Mistress. I might as see what she wants and hope it doesn't involve me getting expelled.


	6. (Not) a fan of lavender

**_A/N: Hello, um, so, I updated finally, that's good. Hopefully I'll be able to publish more since this chapter was basically created in a day so that's possible. Also, I hadn't decided if Adrian was going to be a recurring character until now so more information about him will be introduced in upcoming chapters. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I love review, they make me extremely happy that I published this story in the first place. Thank you so much. I think that's all so good night since I am finishing this at almost midnight (I need to stop doing that). Have a great life. Until next time, bye._**

 ** _Disclaimer: If it looks familiar than I probably don't own it._**

* * *

If you ask one of my patients, they'll tell you I'm the most patient person alive. I can remain cool and collected no matter how long it takes for a test to be run or for a bone to heal. However, if you ask any of my sibling, they'll say that I can't wait for anything to save mine, or someone else's life. I become a complete mess when I have to wait for news on a friend or in this case, sit in the equivalent of the principal's office, waiting for the Head Misteress speak. Though it's not entirely my fault. How in the world am I supposed to concentrate on my possible expulsion when there are a thousand different doodads spinning, flashing, and looking generally interesting all around the room. Not to mention the fact that the photos on the wall move and keep whispering very loudly about me to the portraits next to them. It's only inevitable that I tap my foot and play with my hands as I crane my neck to take everything in.

"Where you aware that it is against Hogwarts policy for students to sit at house tables other than their own?" she finally speaks. I thought I was going to die from silence.

"Yes." I hang my head hoping that she might be more lenient if she thinks's I feel guilty. I don't.

"And yet you still sat at the Slytherin table no less."

"Yes?" I don't know why it matters that it was the green table I sat at.

She leans back in her ornate chair and smiles. "Mr. Solace," Oh no, here comes my punishment. "would you like some tea?"

"Excuse me?"

"Normally I would offer you a biscuit, but seeing as you were just at the feast, I thought a calming tea would be better suited for this situation."

"Okay," What is going on here? I thought I was in trouble. "I guess tea would be nice."

"Wonderful." she pulls out her wand and wordlessly gives it a swish. Tea cups and sauces are summoned along with a tea pot that pours itself. I don't think I'll ever get used to magic.

"Thank you." I accept the cup that landed in front of me on the desk. Before taking a sip though, I send a quick pray to my father that it isn't poisoned or if it is that it doesn't kill me. Ms. Mcgonagall is watching me so I quickly take a drink so that I don't look suspicious. Good news, it isn't poisoned. Bad news, it's lavender. I'm not a big fan of lavender tea. I don't take a second sip.

"If I confess, I am a little confused. Why did you choose to sit at the Slytherin table? Are you having trouble with the Hufflepuff house?" the teacher gets back to the original topic, thank Zeus.

"No, not at all. The Hufflepuffs are great!" That was louder than I meant it to be. "The other transfer student, Nico di Angelo, has a bad habit of not eating and since I'm his doctor I decided to sit with him to make sure he didn't skip the feast," I explain the best I can without going into detail about Nico's time in the jar or any of the other horrible events he's lived through.

"If a student has an eating problem then you should alert the school nurse."

"No!" Now I'm yelling. When did I get so loud? "I mean, Nico doesn't like people knowing about it and I have experience with his stubbornness. There's no reason to bother anyone else." Also, if a nurse gets involved then they might want to give him a check up and discover all his scars. I don't know how we would be able to explain those.

Mcgonagall purses her lips, obvious not liking the idea of letting a student handle things alone. "Very well, you can sit at the Slytherin table for lunch and breakfast, but I must insist that you stay at your own table for supper."

"Of course." I didn't think I would actually be allowed to continue sitting at a different table. "Does this mean I'm not in trouble?" It doesn't hurt to ask, hopefully.

"I won't punish a student for looking after his friend's health, so no. Though please keep in mind that I won't allow you to bend the rules so much in the future," she warns.

Yes! I am not in trouble.

"It's getting late, and I'm sure you would like to get to bed. I'm have someone come and escort you to your room." she grabs and rings a small bell that was hiding among all the other knick knacks. I don't know what it's supposed to do,but I get my answer when a short, part gremlin, part Sant's elf creature appears with an audible _pop._ Wait, Nico told me about these creatures, they're a wizard helper called house elves. "Winky, please escort Mr. Solace to the Hufflepuff eighth year dorm room."

Winky turns her huge eyes towards me before enthusiastically nodding her head. "It would be Winky's honor." The house elf takes ahold of my hand and pulls me out of the office.

She leads me through enough hallways for me to be thoroughly lost before stoping in front of a pile of barrels and tapping out a melody on them that reveals a hidden doorway. From there I'm told to go up a staircase and open the last door on my left where I find a room filled with beds and sleeping boys all about my age. Looks like introductions will have to wait until tomorrow morning. I change into my pajamas and crawl into the open bed that had my trunk sitting in front of it.

 _ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ_

The next morning I wake with the sun meaning that I'm somehow the first one awake in the dorm room. I could awkwardly lay in bed waiting for someone else to wake up, but I don't know how long that would take. Classes start today so I assume it won't take long, but still, I don't feel like waiting. Instead I use the connected bathroom to change and get ready for the day then head to the common area for the house. Maybe someone will be down there and willing to guild me to the great hall. There's no way I would be able to find it by myself.

I'm in luck. Someone else is awake at this hour having decided to apparently scribble on a piece of paper by the fire. "Hello," I greet happily making the boy jump. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"What are you doing up?" It's the same boy who helped answer my questions last night. He straitens his papers and pushes his pale brown hair out of his face. Over all, he looks a little worn down.

"Early riser, you?"

He shrugs, "I didn't realize it had gotten so late, early, whatever."

"You haven't slept at all?" he shakes his head. "That's not healthy." I inform him just incase he somehow doesn't already know.

"Eh, it's too late now to change it." he shrugs again. Does no one in this school care about their health. "Well, want to head to breakfast? Maybe they'll have something to boost my depleted energy supplies." He smirks at me like he just told a joke only the two of us know, but I must have missed the punch line.

"Lead the way," I sigh. "there's no way I'll be able to find it myself."

My lack of direction makes him laugh. "Yeah, sometimes I think the Hogwarts founders designed the castle to be confusing on purpose. It's like their one goal in life was to make new students get lost and end up late for class." He gathers together his papers and shoves them between the pages of his book. "Lucky for you, I've had eight years to study the labyrinth like hallways. Just follow me. I'll be you tour guild Adrian." He pauses to give me another smirk. "But you can call me Rian if you want. All of my three friend do." I open my mouth to answer, but he's already out of the common area door.

Left, right, two more lefts, down a set of stairs, up another. "Are you sure you know where you're going?" I can't help asking. "I think we've already passed this set of armor."

"I know," He throws over his shoulder smugly.

"So we're lost?"

"Nope, I'm taking us in circles on purpose."

"What? Why?"

"Because we left the common room eight minutes ago and it's so early that the great hall only opened five of those minutes ago. I was wasting time by showing you more of the school." Okay, that makes sense.

"Then how do we get to breakfast from here." I'm so confused I couldn't get us back to the Hufflepuff common area.

Adrian suddenly stops causing me to run into the back of him. He has to grab my arms to make sure that I don't fall and doesn't let go until I get my balance back completely. It takes longer than it should. "Simple, it's right here" he says, motioning to the set of oak doors from last night and choosing to ignore my flushed cheeks from when he touched me. I think the smell of either his shampoo or cologne is still lingering and making me woozy. He smells like lavender.


	7. A True di Angelo

_**A/N: Hello, so I realized that a few chapters back someone on here pointed out that I got the name of Nevill's toad wrong along with a couple other things and then I forgot to thank them in the last chapter. That person was TheGoodeRavenclaw and I'm sorry it's taken so long it mention it but I really am thankful that you pointed it out.**_

 _ **Also, Bean89 asked if Solangelo is an established thing right now in the story and I thought it would be best to answer that here so that there isn't any confusion. No Nico and Will are not currently a couple. I have yet to completely decide on ships for this story because I don't usually write in romance and am still figuring it out. Please be patient with me as I do this.**_

 _ **Finally, as always thank you for reading and/reviewing this story. I love the feed back. Now, back to the originally scheduled update.**_

* * *

Adrian's right when he said we were early for breakfast. There's barely anyone else in the entire Great Hall, and by that I mean there's only one other person who beat us here. A certain Son of Hades which makes no sense what so ever since Nico is in no way a morning person. Yet here he is with a single slice of buttered bread on his plate, still ignoring anything of real substance. Seriously, when will he learn that he need to eat more than a bird?

"Woah, where are you going?" Adrian puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me when I start walking towards the Slytherin table. "Didn't you just get in trouble for sitting at the wrong table last night?"

Nico must hear us because he looks up from his uneaten bread to give us an odd look. "Nope, in fact I got permission to do just that as long as I sit with the Hufflepuffs during dinner." So ha.

Adrian raises an eyebrow and cocks his head in disbelief. "Really?"

"Yes really, now come on. I'm sure no one will mind if you join us." Ignoring his protests, I grab the hand that had been on my shoulder to drag him to where Nico is. "Morning Neeks, you're up early." Too early. Did he get nightmares again? He has been doing a lot better the past couple of months. I hope he hasn't relapsed.

"Jet lag," he mumbles in explanation. " And don't call me Neeks."

"Whatever you say Death Breath." He scowls at me, making my smile grow bigger. "Nico meet Adrian, Adrian this is Nico di Angelo." I let go of Adrian's hand to gesture from one to the other.

"Sup." Adrian smiles and gives him a half wave which receives a simple nod in acknowledgment. "Friendly guy you've got there." Adrian whispers in my ear, making chills run down my spine.

"You'll get used to him." I think so. Nico can be a little stand offish. I just hope him and Adrian can move past that point.

Adrian grimaces at the idea." I sure hope not." he comments as he fills his plate with bacon, sausage, and a strew of other breakfast foods.

"See Nico, that's a healthy amount of food," I point out.

Nico of course rolls his eyes. "What? Enough to give yourself a heart attack? I'll pass." He takes a huge bite out of his toast to prove a point. He can be really annoying sometimes; I hope he chokes on it.

Nico visibly swallows and immediately starts coughing. I didn't really mean that! He grabs for a goblet to take a long sip and clears his throat. "Stupid food." Thank goodness he's okay.

"Don't blame the food, it's your fault for taking too big of a bite," Adrian scolds while calmly eating the rest of his food.

Nico stiffens and I can already tell that the next thing out of his mouth isn't going to be anything nice. Before he can get that far I give him a little kick under the table and send him a look warning him that he better not start a fight. "Whatever." Nico takes another bite, this one much 'smaller than the first.

"Great Merlin, they've multiplied." Draco collapses onto the bench across from us.

I quickly hide my surprise at his sudden appearance with a friendly smile. "Nice to see you too Draco. Are you planning on eating this morning?"

"I was going to, but then I saw you and lost my appetite. "The blond scowls. Despite his words, Draco puts a few pieces of fruit on his plate.

"Be nice or get lost," Nico warns, sending a weak glare in Draco's direction

"Yeah, no one asked you to sit here, " Adrian agrees. Maybe they're finally starting to get along. Probably not.

"The same can be said about you Randell, " Draco sneers at Adrain. "Why are you here anyways?" He bites back and into a banana.

"Actually Will invited me and there's no way I'm letting my fellow badger brave the vipers nest alone." Adrian drapes his arm over me and pulls me close.

"Fine, but who invited Dr. Sunshine here?"

"Nico of course," I reply off handedly, more focused on whether I've been pressed into Adrian's side for too long to be normal.

"I didn't have a say in the matter," Nico pipes up.

I pull away from Adrian to give Nico my full attention. "Do you want me to leave?" More people have entered the hall by now and are giving our group weird looks including Harry and his friend. Are they making Nico uncomfortable? Am I?

"No, you're fine," Nico tells his plate.

Draco huffs. "Fine, but when you don't get your schedule because you're at the wrong table don't blame me."

"Well it looks like we'll find out now. Here comes the professor."

A lady maybe in her late twenties with waxy raven black hair cut just below her chin weaves through students, handing out schedules without once stabling despite her tall, dark blue heels that match her robes perfectly.

"Draco Mal," she starts when she reaches us before Draco cuts her off.

"That's me."

The teacher purses her lips and hands him a slip of paper. "William Solace?" I don't have time to tell her who I am before a paper like Draco's is shoved into my hand. Turning to Adrian, she hums in consideration. "I wasn't given a schedule for another Hufflepuff, but since all eighth years are the same you should be able to look off of a friend's until you can get yours from your head of house." Adrian sends Draco a 'ha' look and leans over to see what classes I have. "And finally, Nico di Angelo." She all but glares at him. "Is that you?" she asks even though it's clear she knows exactly who he is.

"Maybe, who's asking?" he responds with the same hostility.

"Nico!" I swat him on the arm. She may not be nice, but that's still no way to talk to a teacher. What if he gets detention? "Don't be rude."

"No it's fine. I should have introduced myself from the beginning. My name is Viola Oscuro though you can call me Professor Oscuro. I'm the new head of Slytherin and Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." She gives a little bow and smirks at the sight of Draco's eyes widening.

"Sorry, is that name supposed to mean something to me?" If possible, Draco's eyes get even wider. They'll pop out of his head if he get even more surprised.

"It would if you were a true di Angelo, but then again it's not uncommon to find people using the family name for fame and power." she looks Nico up and down in inspection. "Pity, I actually thought you might be the real deal. Looks like I was mistaken." Nico doesn't answer, not that he needs to. The shadows reaching towards him and the sudden drop in temperature speaks volumes. For the first time, Professor Oscuro's smug composure cracks. She looks surprised and maybe even a little scared.

That's my cue to calm Nico down before he ends up harming those around him or even himself. I don't need him turning into a shadow during this quest. "Well, we should be going now." I pluck Nico's schedule out of her hand. "We don't wan to be late on the fist day of class after all." I grab Nico and forcefully pull him up and out of his seat where he's frozen glaring at everything.

Yanking him from the hall, I try to snap him out of it by channeling my healing abilities though my touch. "Hey, are you okay?" I ask while transferring my grip from his upper arm down to his wrist so that I can check his heart beat. It's fast.

"I'm fine," he insists, but just to be careful I also check his forehead to see if it's warm. Nope, cold as a corpse as ever. "I told you I'm fine." he batters my hand away from his flushed face.

"True, but you always say that so _excuse_ me for not believing you," I huff. Why can't he give me a straight answer for once? Doesn't he know I'm just trying to care for him? "Look, I know you don't like to talk about your family or, Apollo forbid, your feelings, but that was quite the show of accidental powers for something that's 'fine'"

"Will," Nico warns me against trying to push any farther, but it lack the usual venom. He slips against the grey stone wall with a sigh. "Will," he repeats.

"There you guys are." Adrian rounds the corner with Draco trailing behind him. Nico automatically stiffens at their arrival and I can already tell that if he was going to say something to me then there's no way I'm ever going to hear what it was now. "You just left us with that scary lady. It was awkward," he complains.

"Yeah, sorry about all of that back there." I rub the back of my neck, not quite sure what else to say.

"Which was what exactly? I've never seen any magic like that." Draco tries to stare Nico down in search of answers. Too bad he doesn't know that he's wasting his time.

"Really? I thought everyone here has seen accidental magic before." At least Nico isn't lying. Showing his powers was an accident and to those that don't know about demi-gods they do look like magic.

Adrian hums. "Is that all it was?"

"Of course, what else would it have been?" My voice sounds high even to me. I hate not being good at lying.

"I don't know, it looked a lot like umbrakinesis to me."Adrian shrugs casually, yet his tone is sharp and accusing. No one says anything right away. I don't because I don't trust myself to come up with a convincing lie on the spot and Nico doesn't because he's too busy looking like someone forced him to swallow a lemon. Draco is looking back and forth between us with a far away look in his eye like an Athena kid when they've almost solve the puzzle they've been woking on. Adrian taps his foot causing the sound to echo though out the empty hall. "Well?"


	8. Right

**A/N: I updated, yes, finally! Sorry that this chapter probably seem a little on the shorter side. I know what I want to happen in this story but I'm still trying to figure out the exact plot. Despite my inconsistent updating and my overall disorganization, you're still reading this so thank you. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I love writing this and I'm happy that people seem to be enjoying it as well. I don't want to take another break from writing, but if I don't update for a while it's probably because I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing with my life. Thank you for being patient with me and have a great life.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't own Percy Jackson. I don't own anything.**

* * *

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nico blantantly denies Adrian's accusations. If I didn't know any better, I might just believe him.

"So it's true then," Draco challenges. Then again, I have been accused of being gullible in the past.

Nico pushes off the wall and takes a step toward his fellow snake. "Didn't you hear me, or are you deaf as well as obnoxiously rude?

Draco leans away, sparing as glance towards me to see what I'm going to do. Sure, I might be able to call Nico off, and that's a strong maybe, but if I did then Nico would never learn to get along with his house mates. It doesn't take Draco long to realize that I'm not going to get involved if I can help it.

He sets his jaw and takes a deep breathing through his nose. "The only thing I am is right. Anyone would jump at the chance to claim they can do something as rare as umbrakinesis. Yet you didn't." I'm surprised Draco isn't patting himself on the back with how proud he sounds for figuring out Nico's lying.

"That's because I'm not an idiot. If you haven't noticed, dark magic is illegal and extinct," Nico still denies it, but I'm sure he's realized it's pointless. You can't change someone's mind once they've decided on a belief. At least not without a lot of work and time. Something we don't have if the increasing number of students in the hall is anything to go by. "The Oscuro family made sure of that," he mumbles, relaxing enough to know that he's given up on arguing.

"So you knew that teacher?" Adrian asks. "And you told her you didn't? Are you insane?" At least someone here is thinking straight.

"Would it make you feel better if I said yes?" Nico smiles. I know I'm seeing things, but I swear his teeth look sharper, deadlier. Adrian wisely chooses to remain silent.

"Okay, break it up." I reach out and grab at Nico's hand so that I can forcefully pull him away if I need to. He tries to pull away, so I tighten my grip. "Come on, if we don't leave now we'll end up being late to our first class."

Adrian glares at Nico before nodding in agreement. "Lead the way." It only takes a second for him to realize his mistake. I don't think he really wants to get lost on the first day. "Oh, right."

"Idiots, the lot of you." Draco rolls his eyes. "We have Charms. It's this way." He give Adrien and I another pointed glare before marching off down the hall, giving us no real choice but to follow.

I really try to pay attention so that I can know where to go without having the equivalent of a tour guide. It doesn't work. I finally got used to the twist and turn of the hallways. Now, I can't help but get distracted by the movement of the paintings or the suits of armor that I swear are watching me. I don't know how anyone could ever get so used to this much magic haphazardly mashed together in one place. If all that wasn't bad enough, I still haven't let go of Nico's hand. Honestly, that's more effective at distracting me than anything else I've seen today. He isn't even trying to pull away anymore.

We reach the charms class room in no time, but I still have no idea how we ended up here. And all the seats are mostly full. Just great. "Will, over here," Harry calls. He points to the open seat at the table with him and Ron with Hermione and Neville one table over.

"Uh," I hesitate. There's only one open seat there so I won't be able to sit with Nico or Adrian. ON the other hand, it's been forever since I've seen Harry and he probably will know some things that will help up with this quest.

Nico pulls away. "You can sit with them, it's not like I need you to babysit me." He goes and sits in an open seat in the back and Draco takes the chair right next to him. Adrian waves to a Hufflepuff friend and heads towards them.

I guess I have no reason to not sit with Harry and his friends, so why do I feel so disappointed? "Good morning Harry, Ron," I greet as I sit down.

"Hello Will."

"Oi mate, what were you doing hanging out with Malfoy?" Ron demands, making me think that manners must be a completely foreign concept to wizards.

"Who?" I don't know any Malfoys.

"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy," Ron repeats. "You sat with him and that other snake last night and then again this morning."

What is this, Mean Girls? Why does it matter who I sit with? "You mean Nico? You met him in the carriages. You didn't seem to have a problem with him then."

"That was before I knew he was a Slytherin."

I can't believe this. "How does that change anything?"

Ron tilts his head to the side. "That's the house for Death Eaters." He might as well have added 'isn't it obvious' with how confident he is. "Just ask Harry, he fought the lot of them."

"You can't seriously believe that, right Harry?"

Harry shrugs, not looking at me. "Ron's right, a lot of bad wizards, dark wizards, were in Slytherin."

I realize that I haven't known Harry for years and that he's not a scrawny, malnourished eleven year old anymore, but I never thought he would become housesit or whatever you call this. What makes it worse, both Harry and Ron sound so sure that they're right. I don't even know what to say. Nico would be rolling his eyes in annoyance or getting into augment until they saw reason, but sadly, Nico is sitting too far away to help. All I can do is shake my head in disappointment.

"Trust me mate, nothing good comes out of Slytherin."

Maybe more would be said, but Hermione shushes us from the next table as the teacher enters the room and tells everyone to pull out their wands


	9. You're Not Evil

A/N: Thank you for taking the time to read and/or review my story. I'm hoping to have time to write more over Thanksgiving Break so that the next chapter will be out soon. 

Disclaimer: If it sounds familiar then I probably don't own it. Please don't sue me.

* * *

As soon as Charms ends, I try to find Nico. I don't know what got into Ron and Harry, but I can't believe them. There's no way all Slytherins are evil. Look at Nico, he's a hero and Draco, sure he's a little mean, probably a little depressed, but not evil. At least I don't think he is.

"Wow, I never thought I would see the day when William Solace isn't smiling," Nico says from somewhere to my left. With all the students changing classes, it's hard to find him among the blur of black cloaks. "What cloud covered up your sunny disposition? Do I need to duel someone?" Nico practically materializes next to me. I realize that for once Draco isn't shadowing him. Actually, I don't see Adrian around either. They must have gone on ahead to our next class.

"What? No. No!" Then in case he doesn't understand, "Don't go getting into duels with anyone."

"It would be a wizarding duel."

"That doesn't make it better. Actually I think it makes it worse." I stress.

Nico shrugs innocently. "What do we have next? You still have my schedule," he changes the topic without agreeing.

"Oh, right." I riffle through my stuff to find the piece of paper. " We have," it takes a moment for my brain to make sense of the cursive wording, "Defense Against the Dark Arts." Oh.

Nico's eyes narrow and a shadow looms over him. "No," he decides.

"Nico," I warn

"No. I refuse to go to that class."

"We can't skip," I insist, though it sounds unconvincing even to me. "The class is important." It must be.

Nico rolls his eyes. "Will, I _am_ the dark arts. What do you think she can teach that I don't already know? Or maybe you want to know how to defend against me?"

"I think I can handle you perfectly fine, thank you very much." I cross my arms, a little offended that he would think of such a thing.

"Great, so we don't need to go then." Nico smirks.

No, that's not what I meant. I can't believe I walked right into that. "Fine, what do you want to do instead?" I give in with a sigh. I'll have to make sure he goes to the next class, but maybe keeping him away from the teacher will be a good thing for now. What am I thinking?

"Hmm," he considers it for a moment. "You could tell me what happened to make the sunny Will Solace annoyed. Honestly, I thought only tough patients could make you get frown lines." Concerned, I poke at my face to see if he's right before quickly realizing that he was joking. I want to be mad, but his small smile of amusement makes the slight humiliation worth it.

"You mean patients like you?" I tease. The hallway has emptied besides one or two students lingering around and a cat stalking behind a suit of armor.

"Whatever," he mutters, rolling his eyes. "We're going this way." he nudges me towards a side hallway that leads who know where and, like an idiot, I let him.

I don't know how he learned the lay out of the castle, but he ends up directing me until we make it outside. The air is crisp with the beginnings of fall and the sky is over cast as if we're still in London. Honestly, it's all rather depressing. The little sunlight that peaks through the clouds is weak and there's more dying grass than living. This doesn't deter Nico from making a bee line toward the forest, the dark one that I'm pretty sure we aren't supposed to go in.

"Nico," He stops right at the tree line. "I don't think we're supposed to be here. What if someone sees that we're skipping class?"

"Simple, I'll blame you." the corner of his lips twitch up into a smirk. "Though that might not work. Who would believe an evil Slytherin?" He glances at me before something turns his attention to the ground.

"How, but, why," I stutter. "You're not evil."

Nico shrugs, still searching the ground.

"Who even said that?"

"Harry, Ron, you when complaining about Harry and Ron," I try to hide my surprise that he noticed. "You talk to yourself when people annoy you," he tells me before I can even ask. "Quite loudly too."

"I don't think you're evil."

"Of course you don't. You don't think anyone is evil. You're too nice for that." He says that, but he still doesn't lift his head to look at me.

"Wait, if you knew about that then why did you keep asking?"

Nico considers this for a moment, "Maybe because someone once told me it's better to talk to people about what bothers you instead of keeping it bottled up. Though, that person is a little messed up in the head. I don't know why I thought listening to him was a good idea."

"One, rude. I'm perfectly within the parameters of a sane person. Two, you can't use my words against me when you refuse to abide by them yourself. Three, I'm your doctor a," I'm cut off by Nico when he places his hand over my mouth. It's callused from countless hours handling a sword and cold, really cold. I want to wrap him is blankets and set him before a fire until that coldness melts to warmth.

"Shh, if you don't want to talk about it then let me concentrate." He slowly removes his hand then waits to see if I'm going to say anything. I don't. I don't know if I even could if I tried. My mouth is still buzzing where he touched it.

He waits another moment before closing his eyes to focus on who knows what. "Found it." His eyes fly opens. He walks three paces and bends down to ruffle through a pile of fallen leaves.

"What is that?" I ask when he discovers what he's looking for and holds it up to the light.

"Death."

"Please tell me you're be dramatic."

"Only slightly." Nico passes his discovery over for me to get a look.

It's a rock, very shiny, black rock, but a pebble none the less. First sticks that cast spells and now a rock that apparently has a connection to death. I can't tell if he's messing with me or if tomorrow we're going to find a tree that beats people up.

"This is Death? I thought Percy said Death had wings and, you know, was a god."

Nico huffs and snatches the stone from my hand. "It's not really Thanatos, but it was blessed by him. It's supposed to summon ghost without needing the hole or an offering."

"And by offerings you mean Happy Meals, right?" I interrupt.

Nico isn't impressed. "Maybe."

"But what is it doing here? This is a school, not the Underworld."

"How should I know? I didn't realize it was even here until I felt it's presence when I got bored in class."

Class! "How long have we been out here?" I ask. We need to get back or we might miss our next class.

"I don't know. I don't have a watch," Nico defends.

Well he's no help. "We're going to be late for class. How do we get back?" He raises an eyebrow in confusion and points back towards the castle. "Come on then."

I speed walk back to the school, leaving Nico to follow or be left behind, and pick a random direction, hoping that our class is the same way. I probably would be running if I didn't think no running in the halls is a universal rule.

By the time we make it to Potions, I'm out of breath and Nico is reasonably annoyed at being dragged around half of the school. It's his own fault for not helping though. Even then, we're the last ones to make it.

"Where have you been? Do you know you missed last class?" Adrian questions as soon as we're through the door.

"Yeah, we got a little lost. Sorry," I explain.

Even though Harry and his friends are also in the class, thankfully they don't try to wave me other again. Though it doesn't stop Ron from staring when I take the empty seat next to Nico.

Adrian nods in understanding. "Okay, but why didn't you ask the ghosts for directions. They're usually willing to help new students."

I don't know if Nico was paying attention to the conversation before, but he sure is now. "Ghosts?" He hums, thinking.

"Yeah, Hogwarts has a ton of them," Adrian states as if souls of the departed wondering the halls isn't weird at all.

"A ton?" Nico repeats.

"Maybe a little over a hundred, though I've never seen more than twenty at a time." Adrian doesn't seem to notice Nico clenching and unclenching his fist underneath the table.

"Are you sure? I haven't seen any ghosts," I ask. Maybe Adrian's mistaken. Or it's some kind of prank instead of a problem for the Ghost King.

He nods. "There's definitely ghosts. One of them's even a teacher. I'm surprised you haven't run into any yet."

"Yeah, really surprising," Nico agrees blandly.

Adrian shrugs, accepting that the conversation is over and turns to talk to his partner.

The way Nico's trying to stare holes in the table really makes me regret not sleeping in this morning because there's no way I'm going to make up for it tonight.


	10. There's A Reaper After Their Souls

**_A/N: Did I finish this instead of working on my assignments due tomorrow? Yes. Do I feel bad about not updating sooner? Of course. Can I promise this story will be updated again soon? Um, no, sorry, I can't do that._**

 ** _Apparently classes actually take time to study and do work for, so I don't know when I'll get time to write. Hopefully it won't be too long since I'm finally almost adjusted to my new classes this semester._**

 ** _If you're still reading this story despite my horribly slow updates then thank you; you're awesome. Thank you also for favoriting, following, and/or reviewing. This is fun to write and you are a great motivator._**

 ** _Disclaimer: If it sounds familiar than I probably don't own it. Please don't sue me._**

* * *

There has to be at least a hundred ghosts, maybe more. They pour into the room through the walls, floor, ceiling, and door. The once empty room is now filled with spirits. I don't even know how they found this place. I swear Nico and I walked down the same hallway three times before discovering it. It must have something to do with the summoning spell Nico is chanting under his breath.

His eyes are closed and his fists are clenched in concentration.

"Nico?" I ask concerned.

The color of his skin is looking more and more like the spirits surrounding us by the moment.

""Hey, Nico." I grab his shoulder to shake him slightly.

Almost immediately, his eyes fly open. He starts to stumble forward, but thankfully I have ahold of him enough to stop him from falling on his face.

"Are you okay?" He obviously isn't, but it's nicer to ask than make assumptions, even if those assumptions are correct.

He brushes me off. "Yeah, fine. I'm fine." He sways on his feet a little. I really want to reach out and grab ahold of him again, but refrain. "I haven't summoned that many in a while," he mumbles.

Yeah, because the last time he did, he started to become one with the shadows. At least he isn't fading. Thank Apollo for that.

Slowly, the ghosts start realizing that the chant that pulled them here has stopped. They start whispering to each other, not noticing Nico or I yet. At least they don't until Nico unsheathes his sword. Then every dead eye turns to look at us.

"Um, hi." I wave. I don't know what I'm doing. Is there some type of edicate I should follow when meeting a ghost for the first time?

Nico rolls his eyes.

"Listen up," Nico raises his voice so it can be heard from every corner. Not that it takes a lot, every ghost stopped mid-sentence as soon as he started talking. "I'll make this quick and easy. No one outside of this room is to know who I am." He talks with his hands, waving his sword around. The front ghosts try to back up so that a careless swing doesn't impale them. "That includes the teachers as well as the students. No bowing or titles around others. However, just because I'm being lenient, that doesn't mean you can ignore me. If we're alone, I still expect you to remember who your king is."

I didn't know it's possible for beings without blood to go pale, but I swear a couple go two or three shades whiter than they were when they entered.

"Okay. That's all. You're free to go," Nico dismisses, returning his sword back to it's sheathe.

No one needs to be told twice. They begin to flee like there's a reaper after their soul. Oh, wait, I guess there is.

Nico relaxes, leaning against me for support without seeming to notice.

"Well, that was easy," I marvel. Honestly, I thought this whole thing was going to take all night. Maybe I'll actually be able to get some sleeping after all.

Beside me Nico shakes his head. "I'm not done yet."

That's what I get for hoping something will be easy.

There are four ghosts left when Nico speaks up. "Hold on a minute."

They freeze, turning around slowly.

"Yes?" The young female ghost of the group asks sweetly. "How may we help you my lord?" She floats forward, bowing slightly.

Two male ghost flank her on either side, almost protective. The one has mysterious dark stains covering his transparent clothing while the other stands with his chin up, looking the part of a medieval lord. He even has one of those silly, frilly, Shakespeare collars around his throat. Behind the trio is another male ghost. He reminds me of Santa Claus. Not because they have matching beards, the ghost doesn't have a beard at all. No, it's because I wouldn't be surprised if the have a similar interest in cookies and milk. None of them look happy to be close to the Ghost King.

"I'm glad you asked. See, I have a job for you." Nico tells them. "I can't help but notice that there's a lot of ghosts here at Hogwarts. I know they aren't all here with permission. That's why I need you to make me a list of who should be here and who shouldn't."

The ghosts exchange glances with each other.

Finally, the ones with the stains steps forward. "We can't say we know what your talking about. Hogwarts doesn't allow illegal spirits inside the walls," he insists.

"Oh please. We all know that isn't true. You have a pretty illegal poltergeist here. I know. I can sense him," Nico quips. "And if I am somehow wrong, it wouldn't hurt for me to have a list just in case. Right?"

Stains doesn't back down. "I don't think-"

"Right?" Nico interrupts him. This time he allows his death like aura to seep into the room.

Goosebumps crawl up my arms and a cold shiver runs across my spine. I have to remind myself to not cover myself in the comforting warmth of Apollo and reveal myself to get rid of the chill in the room. I can only imagine how the ghosts feel.

"Of course my lord. We'll get started right away," Stains relents, taking a step back.

"Great. I want to get this done tonight," Nico decides.

Yeah, and I want to sleep before classes start in the morning. Only one of us will end up getting what we want.

"Uh, no. You can give him the list tomorrow and go from there."

The ghosts take notice of me as a group. Their heads swivel to focus on me. Their dead, confused, stares almost make me regret speaking up.

Nico follows suit. He looks at me like I grew an extra head. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. The body need rest. We can finish this later."

He narrows his eyes at me. "If you're tired you can go back to the dorms. I don't need you here."

Well that's mean. He can't get rid of me that easily.

"Really? If I leave than who are you going to lean on?"

Nico scowls. He tries to push me away, but I'm faster. I wrap my arm around his waist, holding him in place. I didn't say leaning on me was a bad thing. Actually, I don't trust him to stand by himself for a long period of time.

"Will, let go of me," he growls.

"Sorry Neeks. You may be their king, but you're not mine. I'm not going to let you go just to see you faceplant as soon as I do."

I would think that having me as a doctor for so long would teach him I'm not so easy to give in. After all, everyone at camp is always saying how stubborn I am.

He glares at me for another minute. "Fine," he sighs and stops pulling away. "We'll continue this tomorrow when my doctor decides to be less annoying."

The ghosts look at each other then turn back to Nico.

"Sir?" The one with Victorian collar pipes up. "If I may be so bold as to ask, who is he?" He points his wispy blue finger in my direction.

"William Solace. Though you can call me Will." I stick out my free hand for him to shake. A beat of awkward silence passes before I remember he can't touch me and I slowly lower it back to my side. "It's my job to make sure Nico doesn't die when he does something stupid like summon that many ghosts at one time." I don't know if that was the answer they were looking for, but none of them question it, letting silence settle over the room.

"Is that all? Because if so, then this meeting is over," Nico intercedes. His eyes flutter close and stay that way for longer than a blink before slowly reopening. I knew he was tired. I knew it. "I'll contact you all tomorrow about the list. You're free to go."

He walks towards the door, giving me the option to follow or to let go of him and risk watching him collapse.

"Goodnight." I wave goodbye to the ghosts.

Nico mutters something inaudible under his breath, letting the heavy door close with a thud behind us.

"They were nice, nothing like the one in the horror movies me and my mom used to watch." I start rummaging through robe pockets for the ambrosia I always keep on me.

"Yeah? What were those ghosts like?"

I find the godly food and hand it over. "You know, headless horse men, murderous spirits, that sort of thing."

He takes a bite of the ambrosia. A little bit of coloring returns to his face so that he looks slightly less like the ghosts we just met. "Well one killed his love then himself when he was alive and another is nearly headless. Does that count?"

I can't tell if he's joking. I don't think I want to know if he's telling the truth.

"Well, anyways." Nico moves on as if he didn't tell me I met a murderer and a nearly headless ghost. How can a ghost be nearly headless? "My dorm is that way." He says when we reach where the hall splits into two. I let him go when he pulls away to go right. He doesn't sway on his feet or anything. The ambrosia must have worked. "See you tomorrow."

"Make sure you get some sleep. Doctor's orders," I prescribe.

"Whatever," he rolls his eyes.

"I'm serious Nico. Jet lag or not, you need rest."

"Yeah, yeah, as you wish Buttercup." He calls over his shoulder, walking around another corner, leaving me along in the hall.

It takes longer than it should to get back to my own house's dormitory. Not only do I get lost a few times, whenever I think I'm finally going the right way I hear a teacher coming and I have to take a different, random hallway, hoping for the best. When I make it back, I just want to flop onto my bed and sleep. I don't even feel like changing into more comfortable clothes.

I'm imagining what a full night's sleep would be like when I enter the common room.

"You sure were out late," Adrian startles me out of my imaginings.

"Adrian, what are you doing up?"

He's sitting in a large plush chair pulled closer to the fire presumably for warmth. The table in front of him is scattered with papers and books, most having weird designs scribbled all over them. I can't tell what they're of with the shadows and light of the fire dancing together over them. Though, it doesn't look like the homework we got today.

"I could ask you the same thing." He tilts his head, as if looking for the answer on me. "Where were you tonight Will?"


	11. Eternal Soul Separation

**_A/N: Hello. A lot has happened since I last updated, including my spring break being extended and the possibility that I will be doing the rest of the semester online. I don't know if this will make me write more or less, but hopefully it will be the former and I will be able to put out more updates. Thank you for reading and/or reviewing this story despite how infrequently I update._**

 ** _Until next time, be careful and stay as safe as possible. Bye._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything from Rick Riordan. Please don't sue._**

* * *

Adrian's light brown eyes stare into mine, getting narrower the longer I go without answering.

"Um, nowhere?" I say dumbly.

Adrian huffs. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, just know that if you're caught being out past curfew you'll lose us house points. That effects all Hufflepuffs so be careful."

"Then I guess it's a good thing that I didn't get caught." I pull another chair close to the fire and plop down into it.

He scoffs, but smiles slightly. "Yeah, I guess it is."

So, what are you working on so late?" I reach out, grabbing one of his books before he can stop me.

The cover is a rough, black leather and the pages are starting to turn yellow with age. Flipping through it, I can see that some pages have signals and drawings for rituals scribbled all over them and most of the writing is in something close to Latin.I really wish I took the class Annabeth organized last month so that the Greek demi-gods could understand the Romans easier.

"Nothing." He snatches the book back out of my hands. "An extra credit project."

I hum, not believing him.

"Okay, fine. I'm trying to create a new spell," He relents. "It's something really hard to do and only a few wizards have ever accomplished it so I wanted to keep it a secret before I figure everything out, happy?"

"I'm always happy. What's the spell supposed to do?" I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees and and my head in my hands.

"Depends," he leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. "are you going to tell me where you were tonight?"

"Fine, don't tell me," I pout. "I'll figure it out myself." I grab another one of his books, this one with a soft brown cover, and open it to a random page.

"Hey! Give that back." Adrian tries to take it, but this time I hold it out of his reach.

"Uh huh," I mumble as I turn the page. "Interesting."

Adrian gives up trying to get his book and slumps back into his chair.

"I think I understand. I only have one question." I flip the book around so he can see the gibberish. "What does any of this say?"

Adrian throws one of his crumpled papers at my head. I tilt my head to the side so that it misses by a hair.

"Okay, okay," I hold my hands up in surrender. "I can see that I'm not welcome here anymore." Returning the book, I stand up and stretch. "Let me know if you need any help reading that chicken scratch."

"Good Night Will," he shoos me away.

"Night Adrian. Don't forget to get some sleep. You're almost as bad as Nico."

His face scrunches up in disgust at the idea, but doesn't comment as I walk up the stairs to the dorms.

Surprisingly, I find enough energy to change out of the uniform I've been wearing all day and into a pair of fuzzy blue pajama pants and an old yellow shirt. I crawl into bed, careful not to awaken the other sleeping boys. It doesn't take long for my fatigue to take over and put me to sleep.

A nice, long, uninterrupted, sleep cycle is always welcome, preferred even, so, of course, that's not what I get. No, I end up closing my eyes only to be dragged directly into a dream. Worse still, I haven't been able to figure out how to control my dreams like the Hypnos campers and Nico have. I'm stuck following wherever it takes me until the end or at least until I wake up.

It's darker than most of my dreams. The ground is more barren than not and the few patches of grass are a dead brown. Not far away is someone standing in a blue pool of water under a tree bearing ripe fruit, Tantalus. Other eternal punishments are inflicted across the too hot field.

I've heard Nico talk about the Underworld before, but I've never had the misfortune to see it for myself. The river of fire warms the air, making my lungs burn and my skin feel like it's drying out. I'm glad that I can't seem to hear anything in this dream, saving my ears from having to listen to the screams of the tortured. Not knowing what else to do, I follow the first path I find. It leads me to a punishment at the edge of the field.

A man with bleach white skin and no nose is chained to a large rock. His mouth is open in a scream that I can't hear and his form flickers ever few seconds. Eventually, he seems to split in half. One part looking like a Hogwarts student with dark, tousled, hair, and the other part being the one nose less thing chained up. Both pant in beat, their faces screwed up in agony. As soon as they separated, the two forms snap back into one and the process starts over again. In front of the prisoner is a small metal plaque as if he's in a zoo.

 _Eternal Soul Separation._

There's something written under that, maybe a name, but it's blurred out. I try to focus on it, only to give myself a headache, and trust me, headaches hurt a lot more when you're dreaming. I give up.

I'm wondering if there's a way I can wake myself up so I can try to get some actual sleep when I realize the glow around the boiled egg look alike has dimmed and the younger boy figure hasn't appeared as quickly as he has been. I look around at the other punishment to see if something has happen to them too, but no, Sisyphus is still pushing his boulder up the hill only for it to tumble back down and the eagle hasn't stopped tearing apart Prometheus' liver, making me cringe at the sight. The only thing different is a skeleton guard leading a short figure in a black hood past all the punishments.

They finally come to a stop in front of the one I'm at. The prisoner sneers. The guard's jaw bone moves up and down, mimicking speech, as he gestures to the cloaked figure. Baldly doesn't look impressed, going as far as spiting at their feet. The guard reaches for the sword at his waist, taking a step forward before the cloaked man/woman holds out an arm to block their advance. The guard doesn't look happy, his bony hands are clenched into fist and I'm sure I would be able to hear his teeth grinding together if my dream had sound, but he resets back to a natural defensive stance. The figure makes a sort movement with their hand, dismissing the guard. The skeleton looks ready to argue, but snaps his jaw shut and retreats out of hearing range.

The chalky bald guy squints his eyes at the figure, turning his head slightly to try and see under the hood, but the figure has his head bowed so that the fabric shrouds his face. The prisoner's mouth opens as he yells at the hood, showing off his rotten black teeth. The figure's head snaps up. What ever the pale man sees has him blinking a few times as if he might be hallucinating. I take a step closer to see the face under the hood. A vibration runs through the ground and through my body. I catch a glimpse of a black curl of hair against pale skin poking out from under the fabric, then my eyes fly open back in the dormitory.

Nico.

"Hey, Will. You need to get up or you're going to be late for class." A boy is leaning over me. I think he said his name was Ernie. His hand moves from where he shook me awake.

"I'm up. I'm up." I wave him away. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I take a moment to let my eyes adjust to the bright lights of the dorm.

"Well hurry up. You don't want to miss breakfast." Ernie straightens his tie and waves as he exits the room, leaving me alone.

As soon as the door closes, I fall back on my bed with is groan. I could just sleep and skip classes today, but I can't. I'm probably already in trouble for missing class yesterday. I roll over onto my stomach, letting the mattress muffle my grumbling.


End file.
